Iran condemns Saudi attacks on Yemeni civilians

In a statement on Sunday, Bahram Qassemi denounced the Saudi strikes against a wedding ceremony in the central province of Ma’arib as well as residential areas and shopping malls in different cities in Yemen.

Expressing condolences to the families of victims, the spokesman noted that increased bombardment of residential areas, continuation of the siege, and the closure of maritime, ground, and air borders, besides depriving Yemenis from having access to humanitarian aid and basic needs by Saudi rulers show the disappointment, and repeated failure of this country in achieving its goals of attacking Yemen.

Qassemi also criticized the international community’s silence over Saudi war crimes that are committed using US-made weapons, saying that attacks on residential areas and civilian targets, and the denial of access to international relief agencies and bodies are obvious violations of the fundamental principles of humanitarian law.

The Iranian spokesman said those who provide the aggressors with weapons are accomplice in the daily crimes of Saudis, calling on the United Nations and the countries that are influential in the Yemeni crisis to intensify their efforts to immediately stop the attacks and to take necessary measures to take care of the health and safety of civilians, especially women and children.

On Sunday, Saudi military aircraft targeted a wedding convoy in in the districts of Arfaj and Hisan in Ma’arib, killing at least ten women.

Dozens of others were also injured during the raids.

The kingdom’s jets also carried out raids on civilian targets across the impoverished Arab country, killing and injuring a large group of people.

Yemen’s defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the coalition for more than two years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Over 12,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.